The Russian Federation marks nine occasions each year with a public holiday, which can be viewed in the list below. The primary legislation that defines these non-working days is the Labor Code of the Russian Federation 2001 (Federal Law No. 197-FZ of 2001).

This law states that one of its guiding principles is:

“Safeguarding the right of every employee to equitable work conditions, including the work conditions meeting safety and health requirements, the right to rest and leisure, including limitations of working hours, provision of daily rest, days-off and non-working holidays, paid annual vacations.”

With this in mind,

– Article 95 of the law states that, on the day preceding a public holiday, the length of an employees working time should be reduced by one hour
– Article 112 states that, if a public holiday falls on an existing non-working day, the public holiday will be shifted to the next working day
– Article 112 also states that the Government of the Russian Federation may move holiday dates from year to year to enable workers to use their non-working days more rationally. I.e. they may move a public holiday adjacent to a weekend to extend the length of the weekend